Fig. 426.—Little box containing amulet for whaling.
Fig. 426, (No. 89534 [1306] from Utkiavwĭñ) is an amulet for success in whaling. It consists of three little irregular water-worn fragments of amber carefully wrapped in a bit of parchment and inclosed in a little wooden box 1½ inches long, made of two semicylindrical bits of cottonwood, with the flat faces hollowed out and put together and fastened up by three turns of sinew braid round the middle, tied in a loose knot. The box is old and brown from age and handling. We heard of other pieces of amber and earth (“nuna”) worn as amulets, wrapped up in bits of leather and hung on the belt.
Fig. 427.—Amulet for catching fowl with bolas.
No. 89533 [1247], from Utkiavwĭñ, is simply a nearly square pebble, 1.4 inches long, of dark red jasper, slung in a bit of sinew braid so that it can be hung on the belt. Fig. 427 (No. 89525 [1308] from Utkiavwĭñ) is some small object, placed in the center of the grain side of a square bit of white sealskin, the edges of which are folded up around it and tied tightly round with deer sinew, so as to make a little round knob. I collected this amulet, and was particularly informed how it was to be used. If it be fastened on the right shoulder it will insure success in taking ducks with the “bolas.” Fig. 428 (No. 89535 [1244] from Utkiavwĭñ) is an amulet whose history we did not learn. It is a little oblong box 3.3 inches long, carved from a block of cottonwood, with a flat cover tied on with nine turns of sinew braid, and contains twenty-one dried humble-bees, which it was said came from the river Kulugrua. The natives have a great dread, apparently superstitious, of these bees and the large gadflies (Œstens tarandi), one of which I have seen scatter half a dozen people. A man one day caught one of these, and whittled out a little box of wood, in which he shut the insect up and tied it up with a shred of sinew, telling Capt. Herendeen that it was “tuɐñamun,” for “tuɐña.”
